 Good evening and thank you for joining us. From 1987 to 2016, St. Lucia has recorded 165 suicides. That is on average five deaths per year for the past 30 years. How do we solve this issue? Well suicide is a mental health condition and a mental health issue that requires a community effort and support. So this evening we have a group of experts who's going to speak with us on how to combat suicide. We have Dr. Gilead, who is a consultant psychiatrist. Kalextash Jaluy, who is a counseling psychologist. Ms. Charmaine Sensri-Rumi, who is on Women on a Mission and she's the president. We have Jessyron Andrews, the National Youth Council president. Diane Felicia, the Women in Action president. Gina McFeed, the National Wilkers Union P.R.O. and Mr. Andrew Sealy, the board member of the St. Lucia Crisis Center. We'll first hear from Dr. Gilead. Good evening gentlemen. So like Ms. Eli Box mentioned, the suicide rate for St. Lucia is about five per year. But what she didn't mention was that for the last eight years or so that rate has increased significantly. So from 2009 the rate has increased from five per year to about eight or nine per year, which is becoming alarming. And I remember one of the persons who interviewed me during this past couple of weeks actually asked me whether we are experiencing an epidemic. I disagree but it is starting to seem like that. So suicide, what is suicide? So suicide is basically the taking of one's life and there are different persons that have different views of that. So some people think that persons who commit suicide are weak or that persons who commit suicide cannot deal with life's problems. But persons commit suicides for different reasons. And in psychiatry we like to take a biopsychosocial approach to everything that goes on in a person's life. So we think of the biological aspect, the psychological aspect and the social aspect. I would prefer to speak on the biological aspect because I guess I was trained more in that aspect and leave the rest for the other panelist. So with regards to the biological aspect, what happens to persons before they commit suicide? So persons normally think that the person goes through a stressor and they become overwhelmed and that is it. But no, the lead up to suicide may have been life long. For example, persons may be genetically predisposed. So the person may have a family member who may have committed suicide or who may have attempted. The person may have a family member who suffers with mood disorders. Person may have a family member who may suffer with another mental disorder that predisposes them to suicide. Then the person may have been born under different circumstances. So maybe stressful circumstances. Maybe the mother herself went through depression during the pregnancy or immediately after or the person was born through a traumatic birth. And so the brain didn't get the oxygen that it would have needed to develop as it should, the systems that would promote resiliency. So this person then would be predisposed. In addition, there are other factors which could occur in the early childhood years. And what research has shown is that persons who have been separated from an important caregiver early in life, less than two years old, tend to undergo different brain changes which actually occurs from that stressor. So when the person goes through an early life stress, they have a secretion of stress hormones which prevent the brain from maturing as it should. And so that predisposes them to emotional dysregulation, they call it, or difficulty controlling their moods and may also predispose them to impulsivity. So moving along, so we pass the early childhood years and as the person gets into the late childhood, into teenage years, the person may have gone through a trauma. So in the case of women, and these days I'm seeing a lot of men, they may have gone through sexual trauma, or they may have gone through verbal abuse. So other persons think that mommy quarreling with me every day, or daddy quarreling with me every day, or daddy fighting with mommy. That may not affect me because that's something I see every day, but it does affect a child. Why? Because children who are verbally abused, or who see their parents abusing each other, they themselves, it affects them. So what a child would think is that I cannot, I feel, I see this happening and I cannot manage it. So then the stress hormones in the brain tend to act up and so causing developmental issues with the brain and so predisposing the child to mood dysregulation and as well to impulsivity. So a lot of times we see children in school who are hyperactive and impulsive and so on are wondering what is happening. I take them to the psychiatrist, psychiatrist says ADHD, but the child may be going through stress at home, maybe witnessing stressful situations at home, which are predisposing them to those behaviors. And I like to think of it as a signal of depression in children. So as they go along, late childhood, teenage years, the child is faced with other issues. So the issues of identity. So children at that time start to form identity. And so the brain starts to mature. And so depending on the identity that they tend to form, they pull towards different peer groups. And so this happens where the parents may disagree with them. And so that causes more stress, because they're trying to form their own identity, which is against what the parents think they should become. And then the brain changes because it's still not mature as yet. And so you have issues with emotions and impulsivity again. This children in addition, because of the peer groups that they associate with may come into contact with drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, cocaine, marijuana. And like I said before, the brain is still not matured. So then these drugs start to affect the maturing of the brain cells. So in that age, you have a lot of what we call pruning, neurological pruning, where the brain, the nerve cells tend because of the what exactly the child is forming in their mind. The those that are not needed are pruned out. So what happens is that you have a defect in that happening. And maybe more is pruned out than should have been. And so the child is left with more impulsivity, more aggression, more emotional dysregulation. And so they have difficulty dealing with everyday situations. And person sees that this really an unruly child, an unmannered child, and as society starts to blame the child, your mother bringing up in a certain way, whatever. But there are a lot of neurological stuff that has gone on throughout the child's life. That may lead them to that to that point, they grew up into an adult. And with all the difficulties that they've been through, eventually they realize that nobody loves me, they start to think like that as the psychology will speak about it. Nobody loves me and nobody cares about me. And they see suicide as a very attractive option, because they have no idea why they're on the earth with persons not loving me and not caring for me. And that is because of the neurotransmitters in the brain. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter. So it's producing the base of the brain. And that neurotransmitter is very important with regards to depression and anxiety. So because of all the issues that went on before, and the brain changes that occurred, then that person may have difficulty producing serotonin. And so the person becomes more inhibited and more depressed and has much difficulty dealing with rejection and dealing with stress and difficulty coping with everyday life. In addition, the person may have difficulties with another neurotransmitter, dopamine, which is basically the pleasure neurotransmitter. So then because that as well is depleted, the person has difficulty feeling pleasure and the person also has difficulty controlling their anger. So you have a lot of aggression and behaviors that society sees as unbecoming. And so the person starts to react to all of what's coming at them. And a lot of what they get in return reinforces the thoughts that they have. And so this is suicide as an attractive option. So now just want somebody else to speak on the psychological aspect because I don't want to take up the entire night. Thank you, Dr. Gilead. So much for speaking on how the biological aspect of our being can impact us and how we function in the world around us. So as you mentioned, the psychologist may have a different side or a different input. And our audience here, I'm pretty sure we're excited to hear what he has to say. So we're calling on Mr. Calyxus Jallui as our accounting psychologist to give us some of his expert advice and his feedback on how do we interact and counter suicide in St. Lucia. I want to say goodnight to everyone and to our viewers. Suicide is certainly becoming one of our major concerns because we are seeing so many people, whether it be they are young or they are the older people or whether they are male or whether they are females. We are gradually observing that there is a steady growth or increase in the number of suicides we experience in St. Lucia. Now suicide is a very serious predisposition. And as a psychologist, I will attempt to give a description of what is most likely to be happening with the individual that would predispose them to want to commit suicide. Now the doctor has already dealt with the biological aspect because we all do know that people may because of the mental status that they could be very vulnerable because of the mental status or if someone is taking some sort of medication, there are certain medications one takes or they use drugs that can predispose them to be suicidal. However, on the psychological side, something would have happened. That individual would be exposed to an event. And that event could be something of reality where something is just happening right there or it could be in the mind. But that is a person's reality because whatever that is unfolding, that is the reality that they have to deal with. Now, as the event unfolds, God has designed our bodies to naturally protect us. So certain defense mechanisms will start taking effect so that the person now will be responding to the event. And as the person keeps responding to the event, the person now will have to try to make sense. In other words, you are seeing the event or you are perceiving the event. And the person now has to add some meaning to that event. Because what I'm saying is that it begins in the mind. And you have to decide, how am I going to deal with this event that is unfolding before me? Based upon the meaning or the value that the person places on that event, or based upon the level of threat that the person feels as that event is unfolding before them, then they would naturally take some sort of action. You will do something because you are realizing that that event is impacting me. And I have to address that event. Having done something, or as the person is responding to that event, if the person realizes that they are losing control because they do not have the power or the ability to deal with that event, then a certain degree of anxiety will kick in because you begin to feel uncomfortable. For an example of events, let me give you some. Because as a psychologist, a number of people have come to me with some traumatic events in terms of I have just lost my job. And that is something that has become so rampant. People are just calling me, I do not know the individuals, but they are calling me, they need help. I have just lost my job. My mortgage that I have been paying for the past 15 years, having lost my job, I am no longer able to pay that mortgage. Sometimes I would get little jobs here and there and I would deposit it on that loan. But it will not be sufficient because I have so many backup years that it does not even make a dent. The person is doing something. But I find myself in the same situation or even worse. The bank has just taken me to court. And the judge has just ruled against me. And I'm in the process of losing the home that I paid the mortgage for over 15 years. Can imagine the state of anxiety. The person now has lost the status in society. They have lost their prestige. Because I was like that. Three cars, five bedroom house, whatever it is. And I've lost all of that. I have just been kicked out of my house and people are watching me. The neighbors are watching me being kicked out. I do not know where to put my children or my family has been displaced. That individual now would generally what they do. They go, they try to seek help. They go to the politicians, help me. I need help. The bank has taken my house. I need a job. But the job, job, jobs are not coming. I do not know where my next meal is coming from. I no longer feel as though I am a man because they believe in the Bible and they say, the man is the head of the house and as the head of the house, you must be a provider and I'm no longer a provider. So it impacts how they view themselves. When they do the social comparison, I was up there. I see my neighbors still, I'm living good and everybody is looking at me so shame and guilt begins to come in and the people, these people have to deal with those factors. A number of the psychological issues now are kicking in. When individuals begin to feel and it could be an ailment, it could be mommy and daddy, god divorced, just name it. But when people begin to feel that they are no longer in control of their lives and they begin to respond, I've gone to the politicians, I've gone to the priests, I've gone to the pastor, they have laid hands on me, they have cast out demons, they have done all of that. But I'm still going down that slippery slope. Fast and furious. People begin to feel what is known as powerlessness. Because I have tried. The job, job, jobs have not come. Parts of the Bible which they, and people, and this is what people say to me. I'm not just making it up. But they said, God has said that your bread and your water will be sure and it's not their reality. I am suffering and why is God making me suffer? And the people begin to feel powerless because they have no control. A next psychological stage kicks in where people begin to feel helpless because I have done that for the past five years. And he said, nothing has worked for me. I'm going down. In psychology you call that learned helplessness. You have learned that. That nothing you have done has helped you. And when the individual has reached a stage of learned helplessness, they begin to feel all alone. I am alone in this thing and that's where the the depressive mood, the depression, because you have no control. You begin to pull away from people because you are all alone and you are hurting. You are in pain. And the final stages you call it hopelessness because for five years I've lost my home. I've lost my family. I've lost everything. I've lost my health. So when they project their minds to the future, they see only doom and they see only gloom. And when people have lost hope, life no longer have meaning to them. No meaning. And you see all the depressive, the clinical depression, they stop eating. They move away from friends. They no longer enjoy life and they speak in the negative. Everything about them is negative. They stay in the room. Because I remember working with clients and they would stay in dark rooms all by themselves. And all of these things are red flags. Red flags. But the red flag that most people do not see is when the individuals have made up their mind that I can't take it no more. What you see, they do and lots of people miss it because they were in extreme or clinical depression. And now they are happy. They start calling their family and friends and they begin to say to them, sorry for all what I have done to you because they have already made a resolution that I'm going to kill myself. Let me make it right with my family. Let me make it right with my God because I'm going to take the short court to heaven. And many people don't realize, hey, that person is on the brink of committing suicide. So they'll call all their family together. They'll ask for pardon if you have done me that. Or if I have done you that. Forgive me. They will start giving away their things. But people believe, oh, and they become very spiritual. And people don't understand, hey boy, I must do something now. And before long, you'll get a nice long letter. And I keep hanging on the news that the person who said they are going to kill themselves and I think that's a joke. Somebody says that, you need to take it. It's very serious. Because as long as you do not know, but it is a sign, hey, you need to take it serious. But I guess as we go on, we'll say how to prevent it and whatever. So I'm just saying, when somebody has lost hope, because of everything that they have tried has not worked, then the last result is for them to take their lives. But there are a number of things that we can do, but there are a number of panelists. I just give the psychological aspect of it, what is happening. And we could discuss the other aspect as the discussion goes on. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Jelui, for giving us a perspective from the psychological point. And also for giving our audience members and our viewers at home some red flags to look out for. At this moment, we're going to be hearing from Ms. Charmaine Senrimi from the Women's in Action. And she's going to give us her perspective and some information about suicide. Good evening, viewers. And thank you, Ms. Lightworks. Just one slide correction from Women on a Mission and not Women in Action. This evening, we are here speaking on the subject of suicide. And you've heard from two of our panelists who have looked at the biological and the psychological element of it. This evening, I'm going to try to zoom in on our young people because that has been one of the situations that have been plaguing our society in the last couple of years. When I did my research on suicide, I realized that over one million persons die from suicide every year. That is an alarming figure. That is 16 persons in every 100,000. That's one too many deaths through suicide. And the statistics went on to say that one person commits suicide every 40 seconds. And in the year 2020, it is going to be one person in every 20 seconds. Now our viewers, I hope that you are paying attention to those statistics because they are real. And even as I think about it, I think about our young people. As the years progress and times change, our young people are faced with a lot of information and a lot of perspectives that they themselves are trying to grasp a hold of. Who am I? What is expected of me by society? What is expected of me by my family, by my friends, even at school? What is expected of me? And they battle with what is expected of me and what do I believe that I can give out? What is it that I can do? What is it that I feel within myself I am capable of doing? And a lot of the times the two don't measure up. And Dr. Gillard spoke about the biological side of it. And all those pressures that our young people then find themselves faced with, I think it acts as a catalyst to even propel that willingness or that position where they find themselves wanting now to end life because it becomes too much for them to bear. I have come across many young people who ask the question, why am I even here if I cannot seem to do anything right? Why do I even bother? And when you hear those questions and yet you see the potential of those young people that even what they do and what they they have as their dreams and aspirations, it worries you, it hurts, it creates a heart-wrenching moment for you because you say, but that individual has so much to live for, that individual has so much potential and yet they cannot even see it within themselves because of what society tells them that they ought to be or ought to be doing. Parents need to understand that not all their children would be academically inclined. You have different children of different abilities. Understand that they are individuals in their own right. And what you try to do is to find find that balance for each child and encourage that child in whatever area he or she believes that they can excel in, wherever they feel comfortable. It matters not where it is because our primary responsibility is to ensure that that child feels loved, that child feels protected, that child feels accepted and that is what we need to ensure for our young people. Once a child or any individual feels lost, the only way to bring them back is through love and a lot of times even their parents themselves don't know how to do that. And we as women on a mission, we have recognized that one of the prevailing contributing factors to a lot of our young people feeling lost is a lack of love. And love is not material things. It's not the giving of material things. It's the feeling that I belong. It's the feeling that I am accepted just the way I am. It's the feeling that I am loved and I am appreciated for who I am and I am not measured up against another sibling or in the classroom against another child because even at school it happens that children are treated differently if they have a different level of ability than the other children in the classroom. And combating suicide for our young people starts with you and I as adults. We are the ones that need to lend them that helping hand to give them that measure of hope in order for them to be able to withstand against the pressures that they already feel and they are already experiencing and we need to do it. The Word of God speaks about loving beyond measure, loving not for what we can receive but just for the mere fact that that individual can survive tomorrow. A lot of people believe that suicide as Dr. Gela said comes about when somebody is weak but there are a lot of strong people that just reach that breaking moment and there is nobody there to just reach out and give them that that strand of hope that they're looking for. There is nobody there to do it. And tonight I am hoping and I am praying that even as we do this panel discussion that our listeners will take the stance of removing ourselves from the position where it is all about us because society has lost the relational aspect of living within a society. We have began to look at life from the lenses of just the narrow lenses of just looking at our needs and our wants and and how we can succeed for ourselves and our families and we forget our neighbors. Community relationship is no longer existing because there may be a child as Dr. Gela said that child may be going through some stresses at home. Their families probably the mom and dad is quarreling fighting all the time. There is bickering 24-7. They cannot get their homework done and it is filtering down on them. The neighbor who probably hears this or sees that child looking downcast that child looking distant reach out. Reach out and just offer a glimmer of hope to that child. So that child even though I'm not getting it at home I could go to the neighbor where I could feel secure. I could speak to that neighbor and let them know how I'm feeling and that neighbor in themselves could give me the attention or the love that I am seeking. It is not too hard. It is not too much to ask of society, of a community. I remember growing up it took a community to raise a child. Where has that gone? We see children acting up. We see children misbehaving. We turn a blind eye and we say all measure of things about them. But can we just for a second take a moment, reach out to that child, have a conversation and say but all of a sudden I'm noticing that you are behaving that way. I've never known you to be doing this or saying this. What has happened? That child might just be waiting for that moment for them to be able to speak to someone who is saying that I care enough to ask about you. I care enough to stop my daily routine and to pay attention to you. So I pray, I hope and pray that even through this panel discussion that our viewers that you would change your perspective, that you would realign yourself and to start looking up and looking at individuals, paying attention to your co-workers, your children in your neighborhood and even those you pass by on the street, pay attention, let us once again reconnect with individuals so that we could spot the signs that our earlier panelists spoke about, spot those signs because those signs are there but we need to take the time to look for them. And if we do that, I strongly believe we all can save a life. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Sanrimi for moving on a mission. She began by talking about youth and young people and how important it is to reach out and form community supports. I think that's rather appropriate as our next presenter is Mr. Andrew from the National Youth Council and he will speak to us a little bit about suicide. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, our panelists, viewers. We are here tonight to speak more or less about suicide which is something that is plaguing our nation at this moment. I am happy that the previous panelists spoke of the red flags and I think a lot of the issue surrounds noticing those red flags as the last panelists would have spoken of. And I think there are certain things that we can do as a people to find ways to better equip ourselves or to better be able to notice a lot of those red flags. I think I have mentioned before at the previous session that within our schools we all have counselors or most of them do. But our counselors wait for persons to come to them. And not all the time do you have young people who feel comfortable enough to go to a stranger and speak and express themselves and say what they are going through. So I think we need to look at this approach. Maybe we should have a lot of the counselors conducting sessions in the classes, weekly sessions, monthly sessions, whatever they may be. So that the students who are already experiencing some of these red flags do themselves can become aware because we know a lot of the time the solution to anything is recognizing it and admitting that hey, I'm going in this direction. And after you've admitted, you've come to the realization, then you can take steps to address the issue. And I think that those sessions could allow all of those young persons to feel comfortable enough to go to those counselors, to express themselves, and to be able to then reach out and find solutions to whatever it is that they're going through at the moment. I think also in the past I have done some research and it showed that many young persons who commit suicide, when you look at the suicide notes, it relates a lot to sometimes, to relationship issues. And I think discussions with a lot of those young persons who are not ready for those high level relationships that they try to develop, male and female or whatever it may be, that it affects them and they're not able to handle those relationships not working out. So I think in a lot of those sessions, that that is something our counselors can seek to address as an issue. We also have recommendations from persons who believe that social studies should maybe incorporate a lot of those topics. A lot of those things should be added to that syllabus. And social studies should become mandatory at our schools so that our students are exposed to a lot of these issues. For me personally, I often take a very calculative approach to some of those solutions as well. On a daily basis, we have 24 hours in the day. We take 8 hours to sleep, 2 hours to prepare for and get to work, that's 10 hours. Another 2 hours to leave work, get home and unwind, that's 12. We spend 8 hours at work, that's 20 hours. So we have 4 hours left if my maths is correct. And research shows that 70% of persons spend at least 4 hours on some social media platform. So if we are spending most of our free time, basically not relating with each other, not spending time with those around us, physical time, where we get to speak and interact and then become aware of a lot of these red flags, how do we solve the suicide issue that we have growing, not just in our nation but worldwide. Many young persons, you find also that they are unable to relate to that older figure. They are better able to relate to their peers. And so I think that more support needs to be given to the development of the youth-to-youth interaction systems that we have at the schools already that we are trying to develop like pay helpers or councils. You find that many young persons would speak to someone that they believe can possibly relate to what is it they're experiencing, what is it they're feeling, what is it they're going through. And I think that because of that, we need to encourage those personal relationships being built, not just at the schools, but as was previously recommended on a community level. And that is very, very, very important at this time. We have young persons also within St. Lucia, I would say, whom they feel that there is no hope. And it may be due to our new parenting styles and techniques as of today. Parents some do, but not all take that proactive approach to parenting like used to occur in the past. And I think that it is something that many persons who are currently parents or who are going to become parents very soon should look at again. How much time do you spend with your child? Do you understand what your child may be going through? Sometimes there is a situation at home and as the adult you see it from one perspective, but you're not aware of how the child is viewing that situation. And so you have to have that continuous dialogue with the youth, with the young persons. And just going back to that data that I was referencing to earlier, spending four hours a day on the social media amounts to 60 days in the year spent on those platforms. So if the four hours I spend at home is not the four hours my mother spends, that is 120 days of communication that the two of us have lost in one single year. I think it's very important that we sit and we look at a few of these things and analyze it strategically to see how we can solve a lot of those issues. Certain research has caused some game developing agencies to put time out sessions on their games so that persons don't spend unlimited amount of time playing them. And I think our social media we need to find a way to have a time out feature on a lot of our social media platforms to allow us to go back to spending a lot of that physical time with each other when we can relate, we can go outside and sit, talk with the neighbors, let the children play as a community together. I really think that the social media is destroying a lot of that community development that existed in the past. I also think that we need to look at how cases of suicide is portrayed in the media after the act. I was reading some research again and it said that some suicide victims are actually looking for attention. It's a cry out for attention and when some of them see how much it is broadcasted through the media, they foresee themselves becoming popular post their death and it excites them and it encourages them to go through those acts and it is just alluding to how the mind can start to think after it has gone through some of those changes that the previous panelists would have elaborated on. So I think as a people there are a few things that we can look at to really firstly be aware of what those red flags are and find ways of noticing them ahead of time. From what the doctor was saying it appears that suicide is more or less like a cancer. It develops over time and we all know that early detection is the key. So I think that moving forward we have to look in that direction and as a people have more activities like this where people can give forth their information and their advice and let's get something done about the situation. Thank you. Thank you Mr. Andrew for talking about the implications of suicide and mental health on our education system and as well as as it relates to our young people in our social relationships and interactions. At this moment we welcome Mrs. Phyllis here as she talked to us and she is representing women in action. Good evening panelists. Good evening viewers. Good evening audience. Before I start or before I carry on with my presentation I would like to have one minute of silence for all the victims of suicide. Thank you. As the president of women in action an organization that addresses the needs and concerns of women in our society in particular we are on the grounds and in the trenches working with them. From speaking with persons I can tell you that the stories out there are beyond words but there is only so much that one person on organization can do. What we can do is each one save one. If we all do our part we are bound to reach our goal. So today I speak for the women to let you know that we are here for you. I also speak to the men so often fail to realize how deeply manhood because they tend to hide their pain or keep their problems as a secret because they always seem to be so strong or are expected to be strong. But today we want to let our men know that we know you feel pain too. We know it's not always easy to find the right kind of support that makes a positive difference for you. Solution why should you care about the issue of suicide? You should care because we lose people unnecessarily. You should care because we lose people who matter to us. To the world even if they don't realize it. Because we lose wonderful gifts, talents and companionship of those who leave us. We lose important trade skills and knowledge that leave the world at a loss. Because as humans there is a bond that makes us reach out when a stranger is in danger. And because you and I would save a life if you saw an opportunity to do so. It boils right down to this precious lives, real lives, daughters, sons, uncles, cousins, mothers, fathers, husbands, wives, classmates, coworkers, neighbors, we all are at stake. A life somewhere around you might well be weighing in the balance and you don't even know it. And of course that concerns us enough to bring us here this evening. I call on all organizations to please do your part. Schools, clubs, mothers and fathers groups, please, please do your part. We need to do more research and train ourselves. Let's seek guidance from the experts. Come up with a plan and make it happen. Strategies should be developed that provide universal interventions aimed at reaching the entire population as well as specific vulnerable individuals and groups. Younger age groups and elderly are more at risk as are our men who are so reluctant to seek help so specific interventions are needed. We must get involved in developing our own education campaigns within our spares of influence and work along with each other. I call on the media to play their part by intentionally raising the issues, reducing stigma and facilitating deep results oriented dialogue. We call on corporations everywhere to sponsor initiatives when the request for donations reach your desk. Laws will need to be changed and more trading of healthcare professionals is required. All in all, a holistic approach with goals to see suicide reduced by X amount within X time. We can do it. Before I end, I want to say to you what suicide is not and I'm also speaking here as I too have had a number of situations where I too thought about suicide and just like the psychologists were saying, these were my red flags. Suicide is not a lack, is not a result of lack of love or lack of caring. Suicide is not a call for attention. Suicide is not selfish and it's not cowardly. Suicide is not a logical, thought out choice as much as it may seem to be. Suicide is a desperate attempt to end unbearable emotional pain and what we want to do here today is to reduce suicides by ensuring those most at risk are better supported. We stand in solidarity with all families who are hurting whether through your own trials or as someone who has experienced the loss of a loved one or one who cares for someone who's hurting and going through a battle. As a nation, we must strive to prevent heart breaking loss of life caused by suicides. Let us each commit to helping our fellow Saint Lucians know the joyful life that really is. Let us help discover these options. Folks, suicide is a very, very, very concerning issue and for the members of the panel here to respond to this call, it says a lot and it means more than we can see. It means a great deal to those who want to know that people do care. The members of our panel and audience here today shows that there is still love in this dark world, that we are never alone and that there is always someone. Today as a people, we have to come to do more than talking, to do something as a start to really bringing our change and mind you, change will not take place simply because you have showed up here today. Change will take place when you and I decide to change and then go out and make that change in our daily lives and stick with it. If you are a child, a parent, a husband or wife, a member of an organization, neighbor, friend, everyone from every angle will need to do their part. Today's panel discussion is to rally us together and then set us off in our way, thinking more deeply about the issue of suicide and to get us to do more than we are already doing. We will go out there and research, learn more about it, examine how we relate to others examine how we handle our own issues in life and see if there is anything we need to do better and then make changes in our own lifestyle that will reduce or eliminate the probability of suicide in and around us. We have among us today people who have gone through various trials that seems too much to bear. Everyone has some burden or another. We have people here who have attempted suicide in the past and survived. We have families and friends of those lost to suicide who have experienced the heartbreak and trauma of losing a loved one to this malice. We have others who may have been close to a victim but are concerned citizens and you do care and want to help. And that's why we are all here today. So today let's love one another, feel the atmosphere with love and concern and togetherness and of hope. Let us strengthen each other for there is nothing we cannot overcome ourselves and especially when we have a reliable shoulder to lean on. What we need is a people who will leave her and go love more deeply, to be more attentive to others, more tolerant, more persevering with each other, people who will find strength within themselves to press on and never give up. A people ready to help our fellow men when they need us or help ourselves if we ever get to a point of desperation like I once did. And so I challenge myself, I challenge you to take up this mantle, listen closely to what you will hear today. Let it change you from within. Commit to doing your part and then do it. Your life may well be the life you may save. I also want to say as that we need to pay attention to our friends. Facebook messages, WhatsApp display their profiles, look out for that. Take every warning serious. Our co-workers, whatever they say, take it serious. I thank you. Thank you Mrs. Phelous here for talking about not just suicide and our community support but also touching on the importance of gender roles as it comes to outreach. At this moment we will be welcoming Miss McPhee from the National Workers Union and I think it's very appropriate that you'll be speaking to us tonight as this year's theme for mental health awareness month is mental health in the workplace. So let's hear what she has to say about suicide. Good night everybody. Just to ensure that I let this out, I'm the Public Relations Officer of the National Workers Union Youth Council. Before I start I was actually going through this article from the St. Lucia Stannis paper and it's called Why Do We Kill Ourselves? And I just felt like it was important that I read this part of the article so that persons would get some kind of an understanding of it. So I won't read the entire thing because it's a bit long and I quote, that's why everyone is always shocked at suicide. They never see it come in because of society's obsession with success and happiness because everyone is told to chair up. Live your troubles with God because people associate depression with madness and therefore stigmatize the condition. We pour all our energy into maintaining that armor, keeping up appearances, struggling day after day to fit in to be normal until the day when we no longer can. One day the lies that our depression tells us about ourselves become too much to bear. The feelings of isolation and withdrawal that have been chipping away at our defenses overwhelm our spirit. The exhaustion settles on our soul like a warm blanket and the olivian that constantly beckons becomes inviting. Not terrifying. An awful piece is circle to our battered brains. The thing we've been fighting against our whole lives suddenly resolves into focus as the best. The only solution is death. This was written by Janika Simon. She said it's right. That is our thing for society nowadays. Happiness, success. But many times we don't realize that people are wearing masks. Now tonight I don't want to stand up again and define what suicide is. I think we have a clear understanding of it and tonight is not the only night that suicide has been defined. Every year another person kills themselves. Persons come up again and we define suicide. Persons come up again and they give us the reasons. Persons come up again and they speak about solutions, but things never happen. And I believe that is why that is why suicide continues. Just recently we had an employee who was her employer spitting her face. That could have been a reason for somebody to commit suicide at the workplace. She could have gone home because of the embarrassment, the disbelief that that man spit in my face for such and such a reason, taking her life away. Workplaces again where persons are sexually harassed. So they go home because of the shame and the disbelief that did my boss or my supervisor just touch me that way. And these thoughts it depresses them and they go into suicide. All of these things that my fellow panelists have discussed causes suicide. But what are we as a nation doing about it? That is the most important question. That is the question that I wish that every year when somebody kills themselves, when you find another neck hanging on that rope, when somebody finds their child dead in a house, when another child has to live because my mother took her life away, I would have wished that a solution would have come up. With so many ministries, our ministry of social justice and so many counseling places and mental health places, just recently we celebrated mental health day. These institutions must stand up. We need counselors to go out into communities, not only schools, go into homes because some people will stay home and suffer. People will stay home and suffer and not want to walk to you. So if we take up an onus as ministries, as healthcare places, walk into communities, just stop by for a few minutes because we stop by at people's house to talk about our neighbor's business. We stop by and talk about this person at church and what they were doing. Rather than the important things, go into somebody's house and find out, hey, how are you doing? What's going on? Because that is your job in the ministry of social transformation. That is your job as healthcare workers. If we stop this, then we would have a closer end to suicide. I know that many persons, because I'm representing the National Workers Union, would have expected me to talk about more workplace issues. It sometimes lends from there because persons go to work wearing that mask. Nobody realizes that they're dealing with these issues, so nobody's able to help them. We also need counselors at our workplaces. We need people who would constantly go in just to find out about employees, find out how they're doing because sometimes these people hide things. In every part of our nation, we have persons with problems who are afraid to speak about it. Recently, we lost a young lady, 16 years, and her last message was on Facebook, telling her friend or whosoever that, you know what, I'm tired of it, and I just want to have disappointed people, and I can't take it anymore, and I think that I'm going to drink a whole bottle of pills. And you know what, this person, I guess, just did not believe that she would really want to take her own life away. But she did. And now she's dead. But the thing about suicide is oftentimes we think about the person who was committed suicide. But we do not think about the chain reaction. What happens? When that person dies, they leave behind a family with pieces dying every day. I'm quite certain that that young lady, her mother, will never wake up the same again. My only child took her life away. Then she begins to blame herself. I'm just giving an example. She starts to blame herself. And suddenly one day, reality will hit her. You know what, I don't have my child anymore. This is who I lived for. And perhaps maybe I should take that same solution. Maybe I should take my own life away because what am I doing here? It makes no sense for me to be here, and I don't have my child. But I wonder at this moment, will counselors continuously go to her house? Will counselors continuously check up? Will persons, neighbors, go to see her often? And that is the question. So this evening I will not take the position of defining suicide. I will not take the position of saying what causes suicide. Because many times we have this scientific belief that these are the outlined things of what causes suicide. But persons have different reasons. Some persons are being bullied. Some persons because, like my colleague said, maybe for social media attention. Some persons for their own reason, they commit suicide. So I do not want to take the onus and stand there and say, this is the reason for suicide and that is the reason for suicide. But my position tonight is to point out a solution. We should take up the onus and walk around. It is our responsibility to start back nation building. Because we live in a selfish society. Nobody cares about anybody anymore. We don't care about anybody. If I'm happy then I don't care if what's going on over there. But that is not what it was. Before Saint Lucians knew every other Saint Lucian. Before you could tell that lady about this child, she would actually be able to tell you who that child was and who the child's grandmother is, her great-grandmother, her niece, her nanny, her power. Because we knew each other. We would go to each other's houses for breakfast and lunch, just sit there and discuss. But nowadays we've become so important, so well headed, that the importance of being together, community building and unity, we've forgotten about that. So to start curbing suicide, walk around, get out of our offices, go around. Those persons who are working as counselors, your office will never get the persons with the most serious issues. The persons with the most serious issues will not come up and say, I'm dealing with this. They will sit at home and pray. They will pray and hope. Prayer is a beautiful thing. But at that point in time when suicide hits, some persons won't want to pray. At that point in time they want action. At that point in time they want that solution to happen. At that point in time that thing that was struggling them, they would have want to see it come into flourishment. Yes we have a helpline. Personally the helpline to me makes no sense. When a person is on that last hour when suicide is the last thing that they would want to do, I don't think that they would ever think of picking up a phone and making a phone call. At that time the helpline is not effective. What would be most effective is continuous walks through the communities. Go out there. Do like the Geover witnesses. Knock on people's doors. Some persons might not let you in but some people might actually need somebody to talk to. So I say as a nation let us stand up in unity. Let us keep that flame burning. Do not let it burn out. And let us just stand together because that is the only way that we'll be able to curb suicide. Thank you. Thank you Ms McPhee for your input on how suicide impacts us and the ways in which that we could begin to curb suicide. At this moment we'll welcome Mr. Silly from the St. Lucia Crisis Center as he talks to us a little bit about his input and his experiences with suicide. Yes good night everyone. Those here and those at home as well. Tonight I want to talk a little bit about those who are left behind from suicide because a lot of research has gone into reasons and causes of suicide and I've found that there's not much research that has gone into what happens to the people who are left behind and I think it is a crucial area that needs a lot of attention because suicide is a very devastating experience to those who are left behind and it often would lead to depression. It often would lead to lots of self-searching because people try to grapple with the why question. Why did my friend or my child or my spouse have to take that step? What caused that to happen? And the result is that some of these people they do not have any support. They themselves get into depression and the research seems to suggest that many of them find themselves in line to commit suicide as well. And so tonight I want to challenge us to pay a little more attention to the survivors, people who have experienced suicide in the family or in the neighborhood. That is a very important area that we need to look at because when you think of the shame and the guilt and the rejection, the shattered self-esteem and all of these things that are associated with the survivors, not just those who committed the suicide but those who are left behind because one of the things that I have realized is that a suicide is considered differently to another kind of death. Somebody dies in an accident or somebody dies from natural causes. You get a lot of empathy. A lot of people come and they sympathize with you and so on. But when it comes to suicide, a lot of people just turn their backs on the same mistakes we call them my interests are my day. And even at the funerals, we get a lot of negative reactions because the person committed suicide. And so the family is left feeling rejected, dejected and sometimes they themselves begin to think why should I remain? Why should I stay here? And they want to go and follow the person who has committed suicide. That is something that is so very important and I don't think that we have really spent enough time thinking about the survivors. How can we be of help to them? How can we support them? These people are very vulnerable and if we're not careful, we might lose them as well. Another area that I want to just touch on briefly is the area of people who have attempted suicide and failed. That area too needs a lot of attention because sometimes you find that somebody might let me just try to create a little scenario. Let's say a man tried to shoot himself. He took a bullet to the head but he didn't die. He was rushed to hospital and he survived. He survived. That means he is alive but in some cases he can do nothing for himself. So the family is left burdened with having to care for that individual. It could be, I mean somebody drank something as well and was saved in the nick of time or at the last minute and he ends up being a vegetable, not able to do anything for himself or herself. That is another area where people suffer a lot. Those left or the survivors, those who are left to care for them, that is a lot of pain and suffering. To see that you have to devote the rest of your life to caring for somebody who did not care to remain here with you. And I think the stigma that society attaches to suicide makes it even harder. The other area that I want to touch on briefly is the media coverage of suicides. And I have been in the media for a lot of years and I know that it is something that we always try to get the most sensational coverage of something that is happening. But survivors or people who are left behind, we do not think of how we affect these people when we go and cover these items. Sometimes, although I think it is slowly being done away with, we show pictures of the actual victim. All of that can be very traumatic to family and friends. The way we cover the stories, we want to be able to give intimate details. All of that can be very traumatic to the family. Some people also complain about the way the police handle the cases, the way it is dealt with in court when it has to go to court. And all of these we need to be aware of that we are in one way or the other affecting the people who are left behind and making life harder for them. The end result could well be that we have more suicides on our hands. So I want to call on all of us tonight to be a little more sympathetic, a little more understanding and try to be a little more caring because the people who are left behind, they have to live their lives and sometimes we make it harder for them to go on living. Good night. Thank you Mr. Silly and thank you to our audience for staying tuned and our viewers at home. We know we have heard so much from our panelists and right now we're just going to take a commercial break and I hope you stick with us and as we come back you will hear some questions from our audience for our panel. My 13-year-old child, she's driving me crazy. I just don't know what to do. All that I need is some good leaks to wake up. Alice, ignore the counseling pension given. Government employees have free access to professional counseling services under the Employee Assistance Program known as EAP. EAP? EAP? What's that? Not me that telling people my business. Listen to me Alice. I was struggling with my child. I made an appointment to see an EAP counselor and I was very satisfied with the service that I received and you know what? Up to a day like today, my information remains confidential. Cox, how come nobody in the office knew anything about your counseling? That's because EAP counselors, they work on the strict clauses of confidentiality. I know you know what confidential means. EAP providing professional counseling services? How much is it? Girl, the counseling is free. Free for you, free for your child and you know what? Your information remains confidential. Call the EAP unit at the ministry of the public service. Telephone number 468-2269 for more information. EAP Works, let it work for you. Thank you so much for sticking with us and we have a question from one of our audience members. Okay, good night. My question goes out to anybody on the panel. If somebody comes to you with thoughts of suicide, what can you say or do to help that person? Somebody comes to you with and tells you that I want to kill myself. I think as a that person must be your friend or close relative because I don't think anybody would just walk up to a stranger and say I want to kill myself. So what you need to find out is what the person is going through at that point in time. So somebody says I want to kill myself. You don't ask why. So what you can do is as a person to tell me a little more about what you're going through. So asking why would make the person feel that you're accusing them of having something wrong with them. So you have them to speak. Because what persons who attempt suicide or think of suicide, what studies have shown is that the majority of them, more than 80% of them, won't help. So that is why they would tell you I want to commit suicide. So then you would have them to talk. So what helps most in persons with suicide ideation is talking. They need to talk. They need to vent. A lot of them need to vent because they feel hopeless at that point as the psychologist was mentioning. At that point they get to the point where I can't take it anymore. I feel hopeless. I do not know how to deal with this anymore. So you get them to talk. Can you tell me a little more about it? How are you feeling? Tell me a little more about how you are feeling. And how do you think I would be able to help you feel better? So you find out that they probably went through a loss or they went through some trauma. If they tell you, I don't know. If they tell you, I don't want to talk about it. I just want to kill myself. Then you will have to let them know that if it is serious enough, if they really don't want to speak about it, that you may need to intervene because your job as their friend is to keep them safe. Okay, so my job as your friend is to keep you safe. So I mean to take certain actions to ensure your safety. So then that person, you can call the helpline. That's what the helpline is there for. So some person may think that the helpline is ineffective, but the helpline on average saves 10 to 20 persons a week from suicide. And those stats are not given out there because we try not to advertise the stats. What we're trying to advertise is the helpline. You dial 203 from any phone. It's totally free. And somebody answers, and they're able to take you down from, we call those who have the strongest suicidal thoughts, Code Red, and they take you down from there so that you become, you tend to look at options that you have. So yes, I'm feeling hopeless and I want to end my life. But what options do I have? So your job as the friend is to interact with the person as much as possible. And if you realize that the person is really bent on committing suicide, then your job as a friend is to keep them safe. So you stay with them. Number one, stay with them. If you cannot stay with them, you get somebody who can stay with them. You call the helpline or you call help from somebody else who you know will be able to handle the situation. And so that person is taken down to a lower level where they find other options to vent. Does that answer your question? People ask for help in two ways. One, they can verbalize it. Second, they can do it through their behavior. And this is where we need to spot the red flag because the behavior is saying something to you that's a nonverbal cues. And many times we have young people, we have husbands, we have wives, we have friends who are going through issues and you begin to see certain changes in their lifestyle or behavior. They start speaking negative. Everything is negative. They begin to move away from friends. They begin to start going to work late and they always seek. They have withdrawn from friends or things they used to do. They no longer do it. They have difficulty sleeping. They're not eating. And a whole bunch of these are red flags. They are talking to you. They are saying, I need help. First thing you need to, when you realize that, you need to know that person needs support. As the doc said, okay, you need to start being with them. Listen to what they are saying because they self-talk. Okay? What they are saying, the negativity, all you have to listen. And you have to, if they indicate verbally that they are going to kill themselves, safety is the number one thing. If you know it's a farmer, they like the grammar zone or you have sleeping pills, a teenager, sleeping pills, you have all those other things. You need to start taking these things out. The knives on these things are some young people, self-mutilation. They start cutting themselves to bleed. I've dealt with a number of these. So we need to watch all of those things. The second thing is you need to seek professional help. Seek medical help. Because if the person is not sleeping, I mean... Mr. Jelloy, I'm so sorry to do this. And I need to cut you down to wind up. But he's making a very good point that we need to look out for the red flags. And we need to seek some help for our colleagues and our friends. And there's a national helpline at 203. So I just want to thank our panelists tonight for talking about suicide, for giving your expert advice, and for answering our questions. And I hope that our viewers at home and our audience have learned a lot and we're willing to put it into practice. And I'm pretty sure they'll be open to be to have you reaching out to them and asking further questions wherever you see them. Thank you.